Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13, Verse 13 (BG 13.13) — Meaning, Translation & Commentary

After expounding knowledge in the five preceding verses, the Lord now promises to reveal the object of knowledge. However, He first describes the fruit of knowing it—a point some criticize. Yet this criticism is unfounded, for by praising the fruit of knowledge, one awakens the inclination, taste, and enthusiasm to practice its means. By knowing which, the seeker attains immortality. It is the nature of inert matter to perish. Due to identification with these inert limitations, the eternal Self—though deathless by nature—falsely experiences itself as bound and subject to death. Through discrimination between Self and non-Self, by recognizing one's true nature as the Self and establishing firm abidance therein, this false fear of death dissolves, and one experiences the supreme bliss of the immortal Self. To attain such a supreme goal, we must perfect our inner faculties through the qualities described earlier. The Brahman is beginningless and supreme. Beginning can be conceived and calculated only in reference to some eternal substratum. The Supreme Self, being the very foundation of time itself, cannot be said to have an origin. Brahman can be called neither existent nor non-existent. In ordinary understanding, what is perceived through valid means of knowledge we call existent. Yet the conscious Witness can never become the object of the senses, mind, or intellect; therefore it is said to be non-existent. Though the principle of consciousness illuminates all things, it itself transcends all experience. If it were non-existent, we might mistake it for non-being; therefore that too is negated here. What is utterly absent—like the sky-flower or the son of a barren woman—is called non-existent. Brahman cannot be called non-existent, for it is the cause of the entire universe. How could the world exist if Brahman did not exist? Therefore, the Upanishads point to it through the language of "not this, not this." Shankara says: Brahman cannot be called existent because it is free from class and qualities, nor can it be called non-existent because it manifests as consciousness in all bodies. The mental modifications "this is existent" and "this is non-existent" both arise in the intellect alone. The Self-consciousness that illuminates both these modifications is distinct from both. This truth is affirmed here. Lest anyone mistake it for void, the Lord—establishing the existence of Brahman through the limitations of all beings—now speaks.